Realme P3 Ultra review

Design, build quality, handling

The Realme P3 Ultra is an easily likable smartphone not only because of its great build quality, but also for its incredibly good-looking back panels.

The P3 Ultra has a Gorilla Glass 7i front glass with a 2.5D finish, a flat plastic frame, and a plastic or vegan leather back with a similar 2.5D edge to one on the front glass.

The vegan leather options are Neptune Blue (purple) and Orion Red, and they look super nice.

But there is one more option, the one we have for this review, the Glowing Lunar White. With this one Realme once again shakes up the traditional smartphone design with a previously unseen effect - the moon's surface is etched under the smooth back panel.

And, when you expose it to strong enough light, it will glow green in the dark.

Okay, we admit the novelty of this will fade away quite fast, but it's nice to have a stand-out design feature like that.

The Glowing Lunar model is impressive (the green effect is a bit overdone by our smartphone camera here)

Finally, the Realme P3 Ultra is both IP68 and IP69 certified for dust, water submersion, and high-pressure water jets resistance.

Now, let's look around the Realme P3 Ultra up close.

The 6.83-inch OLED screen occupies almost the entire front, and it has impressively thin and even bezels.

There is a punch hole for the 16MP selfie camera. Realme has implemented a few UI animations around the camera similar to Apple's Dynamic Island.

Above the screen is the earpiece, which is pulling a double duty as a stereo speaker.

And under the screen, you will find the optical fingerprint scanner. It can also measure your heart rate as part of Realme's Lab options.

The back of our Realme P3 Ultra is out of this world.

Once the effect wears off, you can turn your attention to the metal camera housing which has two sticking out rings for the two rear-facing cameras. Also around is the LED flash.

The sides of the Realme P3 Ultra house the standard stuff. The top has two microphones, the IR blaster, and an additional small outlet for the top speaker/earpiece.

The bottom has the primary microphone, the dual-SIM tray, the USB-C port, and the other stereo speaker.

The volume and power keys are on the right.

The Realme P3 Ultra has a solid build and a likable design no matter which version you buy, and is properly waterproofed. It is a bit slippery due to the glossy panels, but that's the price you pay for those looks, we guess. You can use the bundled case for extra grip.

The Realme P3 Ultra measures 163.1 x 76.9 x 7.4 and weighs 183 grams, which is also incredibly thin and lightweight given that this phone packs a 6,000mAh battery inside.